Author:

Hidemi Shigekawa(University of Tsukuba)

``Smaller" and ``Faster" are the main concepts in nanoscale
science and technology. With the size reduction in structures,
the difference in the electronic properties, for example, caused
by the structural nonuniformity in each element, has an ever more
crucial influence on macroscopic functions. And the direct
observation of the characteristics, which provides us with the
basis for
the macroscopic analysis of the results, is of great importance.
Thus, for further advances, a method of exploring the transient
dynamics
of the local quantum functions in organized small structures is
eagerly desired. STM has an excellent spatial resolution on the
subangstrom scale. However, since its temporal resolution is
limited by the circuit bandwidth ($\sim$100 kHz), increasing its
potential by,
for example, combining its characteristics with those of other
techniques has been desired. One of the promising approaches is
to control
the material conditions, in STM measurement, using the techniques
of quantum optics. Ultrashort optical pulse technology has enabled
us to observe transient phenomena in the femtosecond range, the
optical-monocycle region, which, however, has a drawback of a
relatively low spatial resolution due to the electromagnetic
wavelength. Therefore, realizing the time-resolved tunneling current
measurement in the subpicosecond range by developing STM combined
with an ultrashort-pulse laser has been a challenging
subject for obtaining the ultimate spatial and temporal
resolutions simultaneously. I would like to review our researches
and efforts
on the laser-combined STM and related techniques we have
developed, with some latest results obtained based on them.
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\newline http://dora.ims.tsukuba.ac.jp
\newline [1] Y. Terada, et al., Nanotechnology 18, 044028 (2006).
\newline[2] S. Yoshida et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 98, 026802 (2007).

To cite this abstract, use the following reference: http://meetings.aps.org/link/BAPS.2010.MAR.J15.1